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[aravuus]

The question is: what will her role be?

She and Gaius are there to make everyone else shine more in comparison

I'm not being completely serious, obviously, but the fact that Elise made me roll my eyes so much it started hurting after a while and Gaius made me genuinely sleepy doesn't make me optimistic. Hoping CS2 and CS3 will prove me wrong.

 

[Shin-chan]

She and Gaius are there to make everyone else shine more in comparison

I'm not being completely serious, obviously, but the fact that Elise made me roll my eyes so much it started hurting after a while and Gaius made me genuinely sleepy doesn't make me optimistic. Hoping CS2 and CS3 will prove me wrong.

Gaius just reminded me of the episode of South Park where the Mormon family moves in. His whole family life was way too saccharin in this chapter.

 

[danthefan]

That is, indeed, all seven games including re-plays of FC, The 3rd, Sen II and the SC re-play I'm busy with right now.
_

That said, I understand how you can burn out on FC during first playthrough. It's slow and you haven't learnt what to pay attention to in the games, making it much more interesting on your second time through. I would advise to give the game a fair chance until the end of Chapter 2. If that's not the point where you think 'well, that was certainly unique and interesting', then it's not a game for you. My wife also dropped Trails in the Sky during chapter 1 but completely loved Trails of Cold Steel, played through the game twice in succession, proudly owns its platinum trophy and said she would prioritise Cold Steel II over Persona 5 if she were to have to make a decision this September.

So by all means, give Cold Steel a shot. It's a bit more accessible to newcomers as long as you won't let a girl named Alisa scare you during the Prologue.

You know what. After posting in this thread I picked up TiTS again and I'm enjoying it again. I probably just played too much in a short period of time instead of pacing myself. I'll give it another shot. I've seen some comments that it picks up towards the end so that is encouraging.

 

[Zephyx]

I found Agate rather dull on my first play of FC. I still remember the moment I saw him coming out of Ravennue on my second play (whilst awaiting SC release) and realising why he was there hit me like a brick to the face.

This makes me think I need to get on with a Cold Steel replay before the second one is out, maybe I'll realise something about Gaius that shocks me enough to be interested in him too.

Keep an eye on Gaius on field studies where he is involved. He is probably the most interesting person included in Class 7. I personally find Machias and Jusis less interesting after their arcs were fleshed out in CS. I hope CS2 changes my perspective.

Regarding Chapter 5:

I have a crazy theory regarding Laura:

Spoiler

Do you think Class VII were saved by the Steel Maiden because she is Laura's mother? I find Laura special since she is the only one in the cast with her middle initial in her name. If the Steel Maiden is also the Lance Maiden, then the S in her name should stand for Sandlot which would relate her to St. Lianne. I know many made the connection already but it seems really odd that she would save them without reason.

 

[Gu4n]

Keep an eye on Gaius on field studies where he is involved. He is probably the most interesting person included in Class 7. I personally find Machias and Jusis less interesting after their arcs were fleshed out in CS. I hope CS2 changes my perspective.

Regarding Chapter 5:

I have a crazy theory regarding Laura:

Spoiler

Do you think Class VII were saved by the Steel Maiden because she is Laura's mother? I find Laura special since she is the only one in the cast with her middle initial in her name. If the Steel Maiden is also the Lance Maiden, then the S in her name should stand for Sandlot which would relate her to St. Lianne. I know many made the connection already but it seems really odd that she would save them without reason.

And there you have the reason I think Laura might be a CS3 protagonist. I think so, too, and it's a theory I'm writing for Delicious Crack no Kiseki.

To answer the question in your spoiler,

Spoiler

no. I think they were saved by the Steel Maiden because she had the chance to save them and prevent unnecessary deaths. An action like that fits with the Steel Maiden's image of pride, I think.

 

[Eylos]

So it's not some romance option flag that affects stuff in 2?


What carries over to 2?

Someone correct me if this is wrong

from gamefaqs:

"Just get the A0 rank for the accessory (Gold Badge HP+1000, all stats +10) in CS2. It's not really that good but I guess it's better than nothing. The level dependent one is kinda worthless, it's just some sephtite of all elements and some quartzs (forgot the >lvl69 one, but >lvl70 is soul blur, >lvl 80 is Fortuna, I think). Getting Rean to level 80 will net you all 3 tiers of rewards (sephtites and all 3 quartz).

Another non-gameplay stuff that affects some character's lines in CS2 is who you picked during the October 24 dance event, I think. I think it's just one or two lines difference with no changes to the overall plotline. All in all, it's pretty insignificant".

 

[Yu Narukami]

I wanted to equip a blue quartz on a neutral line but it wouldn't let me?

 

[Thoraxes]

It won't be

I'm even pessimistic we'll get Xanadu Next this month lol

Waiting for Xseed games kinda sucks

Presumably that's going to be talked about very soon, Xanadu Next that is.

I'd almost guarantee that placeholder date is going to be the final date. We're barely over a month out and no retailer has changed the date yet, I'd like to think that they would have had them change the date by now if it were later than that. They've also been saying nothing about CS2 lately and have been talking about games 4+ months out instead, we're due for some news.

Cold Steel was "delayed" from it's placeholder date in Fall 2015 (October was used on some websites) all the way to January at one point, then back to December.

And for some games they announce the date less than a month before release, like in the case of Popolocrois to give a recent example.

Hell, Cold Steel finally got a confirmed release date less than 3 weeks before its release after all those "delays" that were really just retailer placeholders. I'd like it the sooner the better obviously, but i'm not going to instill confidence in anything until there's a press release from them telling me when i'm taking some vacation days at work.

 

[aravuus]

Gaius just reminded me of the episode of South Park where the Mormon family moves in. His whole family life was way too saccharin in this chapter.

Hahah yeah, that's a pretty good comparison.

Maybe the big twist in CS3 is that Gaius (and his family) is actually THE bad guy, trying to destroy modern society cause they believe everyone should live like mountain shepherds.

 

[Eylos]

I like gaius, I agree that he has no character development, but he is a cool mature guy

 

[Menthuss]

Just started playing this last weekend and I'm quite liking it so far. Only one thing is bothering me so far and that's the main character. He feels like a walking cliche with regards to his general attitude and personality (although I'm not that far into the game yet). Without spoiling too much, does he undergo character development of any sort that makes him less... well, bland?

 

[Gu4n]

This is one of those cases where it would've been beneficial if XSEED could've followed the original release order; to understand what makes Gaius so interesting or suspicious, you really need information from the unlocalised games.

Just started playing this last weekend and I'm quite liking it so far. Only one thing is bothering me so far and that's the main character. He feels like a walking cliche with regards to his general attitude and personality (although I'm not that far into the game yet). Without spoiling too much, does he undergo character development of any sort that makes him less... well, bland?

Yes, but hardly until the sequel.

 

[Shahed]

I wanted to equip a blue quartz on a neutral line but it wouldn't let me?

What is that quartz? Does it have a specific effect? For example if you get a quartz that has chance to petrify, you can't put another that has chance to freeze, poison, silence and so on. Similarly with quartz that have chance to reduce ATK, and another for reducing Defence. You can't stack quartz that have similar effects.

 

[Yu Narukami]

What is that quartz? Does it have a specific effect? For example if you get a quartz that has chance to petrify, you can't put another that has chance to freeze, poison, silence and so on. Similarly with quartz that have chance to reduce ATK, and another for reducing Defence. You can't stack quartz that have similar effects.

But it was a single line. I thought you could stack on multiple lines?

This is one of those cases where it would've been beneficial if XSEED could've followed the original release order; to understand what makes Gaius so interesting or suspicious, you really need information from the unlocalised games.

Yes, but hardly until the sequel.

Is Gaius or his familiy mentionned in other games?

 

[Menthuss]

This is one of those cases where it would've been beneficial if XSEED could've followed the original release order; to understand what makes Gaius so interesting or suspicious, you really need information from the unlocalised games.

Yes, but hardly until the sequel.

Meh, that's a shame.
The sequel is coming out somewhere in the coming months, right? Hopefully I'll have finished the first one by then.

Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Cold Steel was "delayed" from it's placeholder date in Fall 2015 (October was used on some websites) all the way to January at one point, then back to December.

And for some games they announce the date less than a month before release, like in the case of Popolocrois to give a recent example.

Hell, Cold Steel finally got a confirmed release date less than 3 weeks before its release after all those "delays" that were really just retailer placeholders. I'd like it the sooner the better obviously, but i'm not going to instill confidence in anything until there's a press release from them telling me when i'm taking some vacation days at work.

Yes I know how it was, I was right there following the date changes with everyone else. I also know where Cold Steel 1 was at a month out of their original placeholder date (October). When voice recording just wrapped up barely even a month out, of course it wasn't hitting the first date. Where as with Cold Steel 2 we know that recording wrapped up months ago and has been in QA since then. There is no indication that CS2 will not hit it's first date, unlike CS1.

We've also heard that the "placeholder" dates that are given to retailers are more than just retailer placeholders, when we've been told that they actually attempt to hit the dates they give retailers. Those dates are not made up by retailers when we know there was intent to hit them at some point, they were given by Xseed and then changed when they underestimated how long things would take.

 

[jschreier]

Gaius just reminded me of the episode of South Park where the Mormon family moves in. His whole family life was way too saccharin in this chapter.

Haha that's a good comparison. Also the reason I thought that chapter was such a drag.

 

[Eylos]

This is one of those cases where it would've been beneficial if XSEED could've followed the original release order; to understand what makes Gaius so interesting or suspicious, you really need information from the unlocalised games.

Yes, but hardly until the sequel.

fill me in, I want some spoilers on this

 

[Yu Narukami]

Is it explained why the "bad guys" always show up at the same place the Field Studies take place or is it a big coincidence? I'm at the beginning of chapter 4.

 

[Eylos]

Is it explained why the "bad guys" always show up at the same place the Field Studies take place or is it a big coincidence? I'm at the beginning of chapter 4.

it is explained

 

[R_thanatos]

Yay, just beat the first chp.4 field study monster on my first try! This are looking up, lol.

Also, how does cooking work in this game? I have about millon ingrediants...

You hadn't started experimenting with cooking yet ? you could have made things much easier for you with items early on

 

[Gu4n]

Is Gaius or his familiy mentionned in other games?

No. What Kiseki tends to do is mention out-of-place remarks that are a puzzle piece for a larger puzzle you don't know of yet. For example, this observation from Zephyx.

fill me in, I want some spoilers on this

I don't think this thread is the right place to discuss this, especially since people have a tendency to click on spoilers clearly marked as spoilers they don't want to read. So instead, have five observations based on Cold Steel 1 alone (spoilers up to Chapter 5):

Spoiler

1. His innate 'wind sensor'. It rang as soon as they entered the Nord's Ancient Quarry. This means he was able to sense the presence of higher elementals (Space, Mirage and Time) and/or the presence of a devil. The other person with this 'sixth sense' is Emma, who grew up training that sixth sense.
2. His mentor. A wandering priest. A wandering priest.
3. His S-Craft.
4. The statue is the Nord.
5. His reaction to Nosferatu. He immediately defended the children as soon as Nosferatu took revenge on Class VII and was seemingly unaffected by its powers.

 

[Eylos]

interesting, now i'm suspicious

 

[coredecepts]

These steady posts are sustaining me in the run up to CSII.

Questions about Gaius:

Spoiler

I don't remember who is mentor is. Did we see him? Is he the village elder?

Not sure what "The statue is the Nord" means.

When did the party encounter Nosferatu? I don't remember that part either.

I swear I played the game, haha. Maybe I just glossed over a bunch of Gaius-related stuff. I do remember the other parts. But his lack of personal conflict and growth makes him less interesting than the others. Sneaky Falcom for putting all these little hints in there!

 

[jello44]

If we're talking the real final boss

Spoiler

Crow in the big Gundam mech

then the same thing happened to me. Didn't take long to beat the second time though. If it was the one at the end of the last dungeon, I don't envy you having to fight that again.

That was the one.

I did manage to finish this last night and the ending... yeah.

Now the long wait begins for part 2.

I *might* try and go for the plat, since most of the stuff can carry over into Nightmare. I dunno yet. Glad there's a skip dialogue option to make it much faster.

 

[Cornbread78]

You hadn't started experimenting with cooking yet ? you could have made things much easier for you with items early on

Yeah, I finally found it under the "Notes" section... I just created a ton of stuff that would have been super helpful much earlier, especially items that replenish CP.

 

[Gu4n]

These steady posts are sustaining me in the run up to CSII.

Questions about Gaius:

Spoiler

I don't remember who is mentor is. Did we see him? Is he the village elder?

Not sure what "The statue is the Nord" means.

When did the party encounter Nosferatu? I don't remember that part either.

I swear I played the game, haha. Maybe I just glossed over a bunch of Gaius-related stuff. I do remember the other parts. But his lack of personal conflict and growth makes him less interesting than the others. Sneaky Falcom for putting all these little hints in there!

Thank you for asking. *digs out the immense screenshot library*

Question 1: http://i.imgur.com/edefJUc.jpg

Question 2: http://i.imgur.com/KNckfUQ.jpg

Question 3: http://i.imgur.com/fGWDOgg.jpg

 

[Shahed]

But it was a single line. I thought you could stack on multiple lines?

Oh yeah sorry you can stack multiple of the same type, but only if it's ona different line. For example Emma or Elliot wouldn't be able to equip say Poison, Silence and Petrify at the same time since they have one big line, while Rean and Laura could do it easily since they have lots of small ones. Makes it useful to have all three of Qilin, Rakshasa and Youkai on at the same time.

What quartz are you trying to put on and what other quartz are on the same line ane which character?

 

[coredecepts]

Thank you for asking. *digs out the immense screenshot library*

Question 1: http://i.imgur.com/edefJUc.jpg

Question 2: http://i.imgur.com/KNckfUQ.jpg

Question 3: http://i.imgur.com/fGWDOgg.jpg

Awesome, thanks for the answers! Definitely subtle things, details that won't become important until later.

It makes me think that he's connected to the

Spoiler

Gralsritter in some way. Taught by a wandering priest, very unassuming, has special knowledge, is clearly powerful but doesn't talk about it. Reminds me of Kevin in SC.

 

[Nose Master]

I missed Red Moon Ch. 1. (I have up to 4.) Am I boned? Do you even get anything for catching 'em all outside of a trophy?

 

[Eylos]

I missed Red Moon Ch. 1. (I have up to 4.) Am I boned? Do you even get anything for catching 'em all outside of a trophy?

you can try to get at the pawn shop, you get the best weapon if i'm not mistaken

 

[ultra7k]

I have a couple more questions!


In Trails FC/SC, La Tear/a/al were available when you got a certain number of quartz in a line...does this game just do away with that? Are you restricted to whatever ability the Quartz grants you?

In the second play through, is it necessary to do all the side questing again if you've done it all and get S grade on all chapters in the first play through?

 

[Psxphile]

I wanted to equip a blue quartz on a neutral line but it wouldn't let me?

What is that quartz? Does it have a specific effect? For example if you get a quartz that has chance to petrify, you can't put another that has chance to freeze, poison, silence and so on. Similarly with quartz that have chance to reduce ATK, and another for reducing Defence. You can't stack quartz that have similar effects.

But it was a single line. I thought you could stack on multiple lines?

Oh yeah sorry you can stack multiple of the same type, but only if it's ona different line. For example Emma or Elliot wouldn't be able to equip say Poison, Silence and Petrify at the same time since they have one big line, while Rean and Laura could do it easily since they have lots of small ones. Makes it useful to have all three of Qilin, Rakshasa and Youkai on at the same time.

What quartz are you trying to put on and what other quartz are on the same line ane which character?

To clarify: you can place one Status-inducing (10% Burn, 20% Sleep, etc.) quartz and one Debuff (ADF -10%, STR -10%, etc.) quartz on each line, but you can't stack the same effect together (can't place two quartz that inflict 10% burn to increase chance to 20%). This allows you to, for example, have a Rean with a low chance to inflict Sleep, Poison and Petrify alongside lowering Defense and ATS in a single strike, independently of each other.

You can't equip multiple of the same stat-raising quartz (Attack 4 + Attack 4) but you can equip different ones that raise the same stat on different lines (Attack 4 + Attack 3).

And for the record, the line coloring in the ARCUS is only to help differentiate them, they don't influence anything.

 

[Saphirax]

I have a couple more questions!


In Trails FC/SC, La Tear/a/al were available when you got a certain number of quartz in a line...does this game just do away with that? Are you restricted to whatever ability the Quartz grants you?

In the second play through, is it necessary to do all the side questing again if you've done it all and get S grade on all chapters in the first play through?

You need to do at least 40 sidequests if you want to obtain every single quartz.

 

[Korigama]

Yeah, I finally found it under the "Notes" section... I just created a ton of stuff that would have been super helpful much earlier, especially items that replenish CP.

Food items that restore CP are most useful during battles, particularly when used with Lv. 5 Moebius to spread the effects to multiple characters. For recharging CP between battles, it's better to just swap Megalith between party members to auto-charge HP/EP/CP to full.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

The site for Cold Steel 2 just went live and it seems they actually translated (text only) both drama cds for the games. This has heavy spoilers for the first game, do not click on it unless you finished it.

http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/

 

[Nyoro SF]

The site for Cold Steel 2 just went live and it seems they actually translated both drama cds for the games.

http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/

Wow, that was very nice of them! Thanks, XSEED.

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

The site for Cold Steel 2 just went live and it seems they actually translated (text only) both drama cds for the games.

http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/

Very cool. Reading through the site just got me really excited for this to come out.

With the site up, I imagine a release date must be forthcoming quite soon.

 

[Basileus777]

Oh this is nice. I read the fan translation of one of those drama CDs, but the quality wasn't great.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

Btw, if you have not finished the first game, do not click on that link. It is heavily loaded with spoilers for the first game.

 

[Stuart444]

The site for Cold Steel 2 just went live and it seems they actually translated (text only) both drama cds for the games. This has heavy spoilers for the first game, do not click on it unless you finished it.

http://www.trailsofcoldsteel.com/cs2/

Good Guy Xseed <3

 

[Basileus777]

also huge huge huge huge reminder that there is NO DATE for Cold Steel II yet! It is only "fall 2016." it's still summer now!

we're busting our butts now, of course (and have been since last year mwahaha), but any dates you see are placeholders. not official/final.

It doesn't sound like a date is coming soon.

I'd be surprised if we got it before November.

 

[Novel Mike]

Uhh... Even if you have beaten Cold Steel 1 I would HIGHLY recommend avoiding the character page on that site as it spoils... a lot, like not a ton of plot things but... a lot.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

It doesn't sound like a date is coming soon.

I'd be surprised if we got it before November.

I really would not read too much into that.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

I really would not read too much into that.

Yeah, XSEED always says dates are placeholders until they send out an official press release, which usually happens very shortly before the actual release date.

 

[Basileus777]

Yeah, XSEED always says dates are placeholders until they send out an official press release, which usually happens very shortly before the actual release date.

The placeholder dates are frequently wrong.

 

[Novel Mike]

So the mobile version of the site listed a release date of 7-23-16, thats an odd error to make heres hoping we get a real release date soon... 8-23-16 would be a Tuesday when typically games are released but I think I'm dreaming on that front >.>

 

[Pellegri Testament]

So the mobile version of the site listed a release date of 7-23-16, thats an odd error to make heres hoping we get a real release date soon... 8-23-16 would be a Tuesday when typically games are released but I think I'm dreaming on that front >.>

They would have said something by now if it were anything earlier than September.

The placeholder dates are frequently wrong.

I'd honestly like to believe that they can get a date right for once when both Nisa and IFI are able to announce dates months in advance and be able to meet them, especially when Xseed is working on quite a bit less this year than they were last. There is no reason to believe that they can push CS1 out within 3 months of being done with voice recording, yet can't make CS2 come out within more than 5 months of it being done. This will release in September.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

The placeholder dates are frequently wrong.

Sure, they can be. I hardly want to get into any kind of argument over this, at any rate. After years of waiting for SC until a pretty much out-of-nowhere release, I've given up caring about XSEED release dates. It'll come when it comes.

 

[Nose Master]

Welp, I may be boned. I'm playing on Hard and uh, kind of forgot to upgrade my weapons in Chapter 2. I've been doing fine with the pre-emptive strike bonuses, but I'm doing farts for damage to the boss. Which, is a bit of a problem since

Spoiler

I can't leave. I can grind on some things in the sewers and hopefully get 3 people to 200 CP and cross my fingers, but man. This sucks a bunch.